It’s been far too long since I utilized this blog, and I should explain. The last two posts were about increasing content and productivity, and then I went silent for a couple of months. Not exactly a great message for the reader or practice for me.
The reasons for my lack of productivity are varied, but they mainly pertain to a significant life-shift that just happened. At the end of October, I left my job with the Porsche Club of America, the same day we listed our house for sale. Leaving was a planned move and not a sudden thing. There is no animosity or hard feelings; it was just time for me to move on to the next thing. I loved working at PCA, and the experience allowed me to discover what I want to do with my life. I am now moving towards doing precisely that (more on that later).
After a few days of whirlwind house tours by realtors and prospective buyers, we accepted an offer and were under contract. We were also preparing to move from Maryland to Tennessee, but this wasn’t an ordinary move. We’ve moved many times over the years, so the process is not new or unfamiliar. We never enjoy buying and selling houses and packing and unpacking, but this move takes the cake for pain, frustration, and stress.
This evolution was different and worse than other moves because we weren’t moving directly into another house. We are downsizing from a large, four-bedroom home to what will probably, be a two-bedroom apartment. I say “probably” because we haven’t looked for one yet, and we won’t move in until sometime next summer. For most people, downsizing would mean selling a bunch of stuff and simplifying life; my wife and I are not most people.
We sold some furniture and things we didn’t want/need anymore, but we still had a basement full of seasonal decorations, books, and papers from previous careers, workout equipment, etc. We also had a garage full of tools, an air compressor, hydraulic jack, jack stands, and general garage stuff. None of this would fit in our apartment, so that meant if we were going to keep it, it had to go into storage, and that meant moving it ourselves.
A moving company packed the stuff we will use in our apartment, and we packed all the other items into a 20 foot U-Haul truck and moved it ourselves, the week before Christmas, with a snowstorm. In the list of things I do not suggest anyone voluntarily undertake, this process is in the top three.
After several days of moving the crap, I mean treasured possessions, from the basement to the garage to prep for loading the truck, the day came to pack it all up. When I picked up the U-Haul, there was already an inch or more of sticky, wet snow on the ground with flakes the size of half dollars flying hurriedly through the air. The snow turned to sleet, then freezing rain, then rain. When I opened the garage door the next day, the truck was a block of ice. After chiseling enough away to get the door open, I started my fitness routine for the day. According to my Apple Watch, I logged 6.2 miles, all of which occurred between my garage and my driveway.
With the truck precariously packed and my wife’s F-150 loaded with the leftover stuff (mostly things too delicate or valuable to cram into the cavernous box), we were almost ready to hit the road. Cleaning and tidying up after all the packing and moving took longer than I expected, which meant we hit the road for Tennessee about three hours after I planned. It also meant we would find ourselves on the dreaded I-66 corridor just West of Washington D.C. at rush hour on a Friday afternoon. Not at all where I wanted to be in a loaded U-Haul with only an AM/FM radio and no cruise control.
After what seemed like an eternity, we arrived at our temporary accommodations in the Volunteer State around 1 am. Our dog was confused, and we were spent. We’ll be staying here for the next two months, just enough time to feel settled, but still a temporary arrangement. The house is a sub-two-hour drive to Nashville, our future hometown, which will help when we hunt for an apartment.
The next phase of our transition plan is currently in significant flux due to the pandemic. More details on that will follow in future posts. For now, I thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings as I get myself back in the habit of writing.
And if you hear a massive “sigh” some time at the end of December, that’s just my wife and I collectively exhaling to relax for the first time in weeks.
